Every year, approximately 61% of people are discriminated against or witness discrimination at work. This isn’t an issue the law takes lightly. If you contact a discrimination attorney, they’ll work hard to win you compensation and justice after what you’ve experienced. The person who discriminated against you should be reprimanded for what they’ve done, so you need to ensure you have evidence to start building your case.
Ask a Discrimination Attorney: How Can You Prove Workplace Discrimination?
1. Witnesses
Witnesses should always be one of your go-to ways of gathering evidence. Do you know anyone who witnessed the incident? If so, talk to these people and ask what they saw. Ask them if you can pass their contact information on to your attorney, then do so.
Your discrimination attorney in Kansas City will question these witnesses and collect statements to help build up your case. Try to get as many witnesses as possible, as the more you have, the stronger your case will be.
2. HR Records
You legally have to report the incident to human resources before you can take legal action. Proving that you followed the appropriate steps will help you build your case. However, your attorney may wish to acquire a record of all complaints made against the person who discriminated against you.
Human resources may have records showing that this person has been discriminating against employees for a significant amount of time. Showing that this isn’t a one-off incident can help prove that you’re not making it up or overreacting.
3. Termination History
It may be worth looking into the employment and termination history of the person who discriminated against you. Have any of their previous employers terminated their position due to misconduct in the workplace? If so, then your attorney can try to find out more about this misconduct. Chances are if the person discriminated against you, then they may have been fired for discriminating against people at different companies in the past.
4. Screenshots
Taking screenshots of any inappropriate messages from the person who discriminated against you is vital. Keep a record of every single incident that caused you emotional distress and made you feel like you were being discriminated against.
Ideally, keep the screenshots on your phone or computer, and print out copies, too. Don’t delete the original messages that you’ve taken screenshots of, either. Screenshots can easily be photoshopped, but it’s much harder to fake text messages, chat messages, and emails.
5. Recordings
Does your workplace record its meetings? If the discrimination occurred during a meeting, your attorney can acquire a copy of this recording. Your attorney can also acquire copies of any security camera footage that may have picked up incidents of discrimination.
If needed, you can also begin recording meetings, phone calls, and conversations yourself. You may do so secretly as long as one party in the conversation consents to the recording being done. Luckily, you count as one of the parties who can consent.
What Can You Be Compensated For?
1. Lost Opportunities
Many people report missing out on promotions, pay rises, bonuses, and other perks due to discrimination. For example, if you are a person of color and a white, less qualified colleague was promoted over you, then it may be due to discrimination. This isn’t uncommon; reports show that one in four black employees face racial discrimination in the workplace. You can be compensated for any money you would have made in your higher position.
2. Lost Income
Did you have to leave your position or take time off due to discrimination? This isn’t unheard of, and you had to do what was best for your mental well-being. Your former company will have to pay you for any income you would have earned in the time you had to take off.
They may also have to keep paying you until you find a new position, depending on the case. Sometimes your former employers will even have to pay you the difference for a while if you accept a new, lower-paid position after having to leave your previous position due to discrimination.
3. Lost Dignity
Your dignity is the most important thing you have in any situation. Being discriminated against can make you feel like that dignity is being ripped away from you. You can be compensated for your emotional suffering after a discriminatory incident or series of incidents.
5. Lost Compensation
Your legal fees are paid out of the compensation you win after your case concludes. This is called a contingency fee as paying it is contingent on you winning your case. However, paying your legal fees is going to lose you a chunk of the money you’ve won. To combat that, your company may be required to pay your legal fees as an additional sum on top of the settlement paid out to you.
Discriminating against an employee or co-worker is never acceptable, and you can always take legal action against somebody who discriminated against you. Yes, it can sometimes be hard to build a case and gather the right evidence to help you strengthen it. However, a good, compassionate attorney will do everything they can to help you seek justice for what you’ve suffered.